U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,899,348, 6,039,195 and 6,327,770 disclose closure and container packages that are particularly well suited for prescription applications. The container includes a sidewall with an externally threaded finish and a deflectable release element cantilevered from the finish on a side of the threads remote from the open mouth of the container. The closure includes a base wall with an internally threaded peripheral skirt having locking lugs at the edge of the skirt remote from the base wall. These locking lugs on the skirt cooperate with a locking lug on the deflectable release element of the container to secure the closure to the container in a child-resistant mode of operation. To release the closure, the release element is deflected downwardly toward the container sidewall to move the locking lug on the release element out of engagement with the locking lugs on the closure skirt. A dome extends from the inner periphery of the base wall and has an external thread that is adapted to be received within the open mouth of the container in an inverted non-child-resistant mode of operation of the closure. Although the packages disclosed in the noted patents have enjoyed substantial commercial acceptance and success, improvements remain desirable. In particular, it is desirable to provide a package of this general type in which material and part costs are reduced, and in which the overall height of the package presents a lower profile for handling and storage.
The present invention embodies a number of aspects that can be implemented separately from or, more preferably, in combination with each other.
A package having child-resistant and non-child-resistant modes of operation in accordance with one aspect of the present invention includes a plastic container having a cylindrical finish and at least one external thread on the finish spaced from the open end of the finish. An external circumferentially extending first engagement element is provided on the finish between the external thread and the open end of the finish, and has an outside diameter that is less than that of the external thread. A manually deflectable release element is externally cantilevered from the finish on a side of the thread remote from the open end. A plastic closure has a base wall and a peripheral skirt with at least one internal thread for engagement with the at least one external thread on the finish in a child-resistant mode of operation. There is at least one locking lug on the skirt for releasable engagement with the release element on the container in the child-resistant mode of operation. An annular wall extends from the base wall in a direction opposite from the skirt. A second engagement element is disposed on the inner surface of the annular wall for engagement with the first engagement element on the container finish in an inverted non-child-resistant mode of operation of the closure. In disclosed embodiments of the invention, the engagement elements may comprise circumferential beads or circumferential threads on the container finish and the annular wall of the closure.